View visual guidelines for proper email etiquette. We all need to develop e-mail writing skills for an academic setting with classmates, teachers, administrators, and members of the community in the 21st century. Download the PDF visual guidelines to guide you and your students on the manners and responsibilities associated with communicating through email. Be sure to provide credit to the author in your classroom, website, or blog if you post the PDF.

In the Classroom

A great visual to share with your students to develop quality communication skills. Discuss rules, rights, privileges, and responsibilities of a digital citizen. Create your own guide using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here) or PicLits (reviewed here with your students for their use of their own school email address. Print your guide, have the class sign it, and post it in the classroom as a visual reminder to their commitment to digital citizenship. Share the printables or the links to the students' guides with parents at open house or conferences. Have students create online posters individually or together as a class.

Use this free tool to compile search results from various domains. Search your term using the entire Internet, Wikipedia, Government sites, Non-Profits sites, the National Institutes of Health and more! The results of the search can be viewed in a summary, a bar chart of popular themes, and a word cloud. Click on Taxonomy to view the results for each theme or Mind Map and see the hierarchy of the results.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this tool to locate a variety of search results about a topic of study or interest. Be sure to place a link to this site on your class computer or web page. Discuss bias and different ways of reporting on an issue by using the same search term with the class using different domains. For example, one group can search any popular issue such as climate change, gun control, or food policy issues using Government sites while another group uses the same search term with Educational sites. Teach the value of identifying good search terms, continuing to refine terms to get quality results. Once students are familiar with this tool you can do the same as above using the Jigsaw cooperative learning approach, and when students come back together to discuss their findings they can create a simple infographic sharing their findings from the articles (including different points of view and bias) using Easel.ly, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here. As a completely separate use, mark this one in your favorites to test search when you believe a student project may be plagiarized.

Find a colorful, creative Infographic for just about any topic on this sharing site. Use one of the forty-plus categories or type your keyword in a search box. There are so many cool Infographics at this site that you won't have to create one of your own. But if you do, you can upload it and have it displayed on Infographics Only. What is an Infographic? Learn more about Infographics here. Be sure to take time to preview the Infographics on this site as some may not be suitable for young people. It would be best to link directly to the Infographic you want to share.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Common Core emphasizes "reading" of visual sources of information, and this is the perfect source. Why not use an Infographic as an introduction to a unit or lesson in your classroom? Create open ended questions about the Infographic to use as a formative assessment tool. Ask students to create questions about the topic of the Infographic. Reading teachers could choose an Infographic on a daily/weekly basis for teaching/practicing how to interpret informational graphics within a text. If they are mature enough to ignore some topics, consider having students go to the Just for Fun category and choose an Infographic. Then ask students to report out the "main idea" of the graphic and give three supporting details as evidence. For any subject, as a form of summative evaluation, consider assigning students to create an Infographic about a topic covered in class as a way to show understanding. If your students are new to creating infographics, have them view Creating Infographics: A Screencast Tutorial reviewed here. For more examples of how to use infographics in your classroom, view the recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session found here. This session is 75 minutes in length.

The WD-1 DJ-Trainer is an online musical tool to create a dance track. Select from 25 professional sound banks to make your own hip hop, techno, trance, reggae, rock, disco, jazz, or samba track. Learn about timing and "building" a song on this easy to use site. Start the samples and the loops using your keyboard or mouse to control the sounds. Help buttons are available for all the buttons. Make your own groove by controlling the loops and the time triggered sounds. This is a great site to make music magical and to fill up the dance floor. An iOS app is available -- for purchase.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this site in music classes to teach musicians about timing and the layers of a track. Create songs or poems for any subject area and use the WD-1 DJ-Trainer to create a track to support the lyrics. Create a track that reflects the tone or mood of a poem and recite the poem with the track to integrate music with language arts. Record your track with GarageBand or Audacity because you're unable to save your tracks on WD-1 DJ-Trainer. Create tracks or have your students create tracks for morning announcements or transitions in the classroom. This would be a great site for improvisation in music class or the regular education classroom. Create tracks to support readers' theatre activities in the classroom. Have students create podcasts using a site such as Spreaker (reviewed here) or PodOmatic (reviewed here). Use the tracks created on this site in the background for the podcasts. Use music as a classroom management tool by recording "theme music" as cues for different transitions and activities. Teachers of gifted can challenge their students to tell a story in music using this tool.

Story Maps takes learning in a new direction. Interactive maps tell a story through videos, images, audio, and links. Learn more about the topics in text that accompanies each map. A timeline of "dots" allows you to move through the story step by step. A satellite view is available on some maps, and legends give you important information to read the map accurately. A wide variety of topics are available to inform and educate. Use the search bar to find a map to meet your needs. Travel to the most visited National Parks or explore an interactive map of the three days and decisive moments of the battle of Gettysburg. It is important to pay as much attention to the text pop-ups as the cartography and other aspects of the map. New stories are added every two weeks. so come back often! This review was for the free area of the site that allows you to view the map stories. There are extensive directions on how to create your own maps, but these suggest purchase of maps, etc. from ArcGIS, an affiliate of Esri. Some of the map storytelling ideas could be used with other free mapping tools, however.

In the Classroom

Map out interactive virtual field trips on Story Maps. Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Have a team competition as students navigate the site on an interactive whiteboard to complete a scavenger hunt. Students can find geometric shapes in real life objects on the images with the maps. Calculate distances or time if the map is a timeline of events. Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Be sure to help your weaker readers and ESL/ELL students by sharing the vocabulary words prior to reading, either on a handout or by projecting them on an interactive whiteboard and highlighting them in the text as you come to them. Have students create online posters to summarize what they learned from the map, individually or together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here) or PicLits (reviewed here. Ask students to write informational essays on the topics or use the maps to write creative stories. Challenge your most tech-savvy or gifted students to explore the step by step map storytelling directions and try their hand using google Maps or other map tools. The advice in these directions is excellent.

Enjoy putting together tangrams on this interactive Flash site! Drag and drop the seven pieces into the appropriate place to create the figures. Click on the circle in each piece to rotate as needed.
Choose icons at the top of each puzzle to view help, a tangram history, and other options. Hold and click on the lightbulb icon to view the solution if needed. Too bad it uses Flash so will not work on iOS devices.

In the Classroom

Introduce this site/activity on your projector or interactive whiteboard or projector. This activity would be a perfect introduction to a geometry unit on shapes and vocabulary such as turn, flip and rotation. Challenge students to discuss how to move the shapes to complete the puzzles. What steps did they take? Provide this link on your class website for students to use at home. This would also make a great learning center or BYOD activity (for non-iOS devices). Build visual thinking skills.

Practice basic multiplication facts at this interactive site. There are six levels that test your knowledge of times tables as well as speed. Earn points for correct answers and speed. Use the drop down box to change the language to Spanish, French, and other options.

In the Classroom

Demonstrate on your interactive whiteboard for a quick five minute introduction. Create a link on classroom computers and have students challenge themselves to increase speed, accuracy, and skill levels. Share a link on your class website or blog for student practice at home. This is a great site to include for students to use to practice during the summer months. It is also useful on BYOD tablets, since it does not require Flash and uses a simple "click" interface.

Screenhero is a screen sharing service that allows the option for both parties to share the mouse on the other person's screen. Watch the one minute video on the site for a nice overview of how the application works. Begin by both parties downloading the software onto computers to use. Choose between the options to share window or share entire screen. Each person has a mouse cursor labeled with his/her name, to use during sharing. Pause or end sessions when ready using the stop share button.

In the Classroom

Screen share with students working on individual computers to demonstrate items such as website addresses, how to locate information on websites, or when learning text editing features such as changing font size or color. This is a great alternative if a projector or interactive whiteboard is not available. Use this tool to collaborate with other teachers when creating lesson plans or student documents. Ask students using a computer for a presentation to share their screen with the teacher's computer to make information easier to view. Share this site with students to use at home when collaborating on projects. Help a homebound student or offer "extra help" sessions via screen share at predetermined "office hours" or during a snow day. Consider having students teach tech skills to their peers using this free sharing app.

Coggle is an online, collaborative mind mapping program. Sign in using your Google account or other email to begin. Click "create" to begin a new diagram. Click to edit text, or choose the + icon to add a new branch. Drag elements anywhere on your screen to rearrange. Invite others to view, add, or edit your Coggle using the share button. Allow other users read-only access or read-and-edit access. Download finished Coggles as a PDF file or a png image. The introduction/explanation video is hosted on YouTube. If YouTube is blocked at your school, you may want to view the video and familiarize yourself with the website from your home computer.

In the Classroom

Coggle's ease of use makes it easy to focus on the process of creating a mind map, rather than learning how to use the program or playing with its features to make it pretty. Have your class create organizers together, such as in a brainstorming session on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Assign students to "map" out a chapter or story. Assign groups to create study guides using this tool. Use this site for literature activities, research projects, social studies, or science topics. Use this site to create family trees or food pyramids in family and consumer science. Have students collaborate (online) to create group mind maps or review charts before tests on a given subject. Have students organize any concepts you study; color-code concepts to show what they understand, wonder, and question; map out a story, plot line, or plan for the future; map out a step-by-step process (life cycle).

Are you looking to experience science and math through a different lens? STEMbite is a YouTube channel with engaging "bite-sized" lessons from a unique first-person perspective through Google Glass. This intro page explains the project and gives the link to the actual YouTube channel. Math and science surrounds us in our everyday life. STEMbite opens your eyes to infinite possibilities. The videos engage you through a short explanation and motivate you to learn more. Examples of videos include math at the pharmacy, washing machine physics, chemistry in your kitchen, probability challenge, the polarization of light, and more! Subscribe to the STEMbite YouTube channel to make your mind hungry to learn about the application of math and science in our everyday life. STEMbite will change your point of view on math and science.

In the Classroom

Use STEMbite videos as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Discuss the videos in STEMbite and informally assess the prior knowledge as you start a lesson or unit of study. STEMbite is a great find for gifted students (logic, unusual topics, in-depth investigation, and more). Be sure to include this site on your class web page or blog for students to access both in and outside of class. Have your students create their own first-person videos on a math or science topic. Create an online or printed comic similar to a STEMbite video on a science or math concept using one of the tools and ideas included in this collection. If your district blocks YouTube, then STEMbite may not be viewable for students at school. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube. To share a single video from this site without all the YouTube clutter, use a tool such as SafeShareTV, reviewed here and create a shortcut to the SafeShare page directly on the desktop.

Find free clipart on this site. These are vector graphic images which can be enlarged without the problems of pixelated images. Many of these pictures are appropriate for use in the classroom and can be downloaded for student use. Find images and figures, backgrounds and wallpapers, as well as icon sets. When using the clipart, be sure to download to your computer first before inserting into an application. Copying it directly from the website puts a black background behind your image. Note: As with most clipart search engines, there are graphics on this site that are not appropriate for children. It is suggested that an adult look for appropriate graphics to distribute to students.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

These vector graphics are free to download and use (with appropriate credit). This site is great if you need some clever clipart to jazz up student handouts, classroom bulletin boards, or PowerPoint/Keynote presentations. Special Ed, speech/language, or ESL/ELL teachers may find these images helpful when working with non-readers or non-verbal students. There is also web clipart that you can use for your blog, class webpage, or wiki. Interested in learning more about wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. Have students use this site in science class or other subjects to explain concepts and create colorful projects. Create an image collection for them to use as raw material and share it on your wiki or in a shared storage folder. Have students share what they have learned by creating personalized images (with text) using Pinwords reviewed here. Or have them create a comic using one of the many tools here.

BrainRush is a collection of fast-paced learning activities. It adapts to the individual users, providing information at just the right level to learn quickly without boredom. The mastery meter shows progress along the way, and BrainRush states "When you finish playing a BrainRush, you know the material, guaranteed." Browse the library to choose from hundreds of topics in categories including all academic subjects as well as sports and Spanish. Future improvements to the site include the promise to create your own BrainRushes. Account creation using your email and a password is required to play BrainRush games. Many activities have audio.

In the Classroom

Share this site with students to practice and learn classroom material as well as topics they choose. Join the site yourself to share it on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share with ESL/ELL and Special Education teachers as a resource for their students. Create a link to specific BrainRushes on your class website or blog for students to complete at home. Any student creating an account requires an email address. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here.

Daily Starters offers a different opening idea each day for 4 different age bands from Pre-K to grade 8. Subjects include language arts, math, and history, as well as fun facts that relate to the day or month. In addition to a challenging question or idea, the site offers a Teacher's Guide that explains different ways to use the site. It includes the background and vocabulary students need to understand and use the site optimally. Some specific topics include grammar, word usage, mechanics, word study, basic operations, algebraic thinking, measurement, fraction, geometry, word problems, and more. Clicking on the Reveal the Answer tab shows the correct solution to each question. Please note: These daily starters are only updated during the school year. New daily starters begin again every August.

In the Classroom

Display each day's Daily Starters on your projector or whiteboard for students to do first thing in the morning. Or arrange for the classroom computers to open with the Daily Starter page. Have students work alone or collaboratively with a group. Allow students to share questions and responses via their own blogs or your class wiki. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through. Challenge students to create their own questions and use them for a class discussion about each idea brought up. Display the ideas from history tidbits and fun facts in a creative way on your class bulletin board. Keep the Daily Starter handy as an activity for substitute or for parent volunteers to use with students during free time or indoor recess.

If famous people from long ago had inboxes, what would be in them? Famous Inboxes takes that concept and creates inboxes for characters in literature, entertainment, and history. Choose from artists, musicians, great leaders, authors, and many more categories. Each inbox contains a screenshot of the person's email (mythical) inbox including the subject of the email and the sender. This is an entertaining and provocative site sure to inspire lots of ideas for your own use! Be sure to preview before you share as some of the topics (or "texting" language) may not be appropriate for the classroom.

In the Classroom

Share Famous Inboxes with your students on your interactive whiteboard or projector using a character or author studied in class. Assign students to each of the inbox titles and have them write the actual email sent. Don't see anyone to use in class? Create your own or have students use the site as a model to create their own. Most likely, working in groups will get the creative juices flowing. This would be a great model to use for introducing a history or science unit or for looking at the relationships between characters in literature. Have students write the emails as an end of unit review. Subscribe to the RSS feed of this site to receive updated contents. Use the option to create an inbox as a differentiated challenge for your gifted students. For example: Summarize World War II by showing Winston Churchill's inbox, then write two of the key emails. As a "hook" for new books in the media center, have students create inboxes for one of the characters and post them with the book jackets. Instead of a "report" on a scientist, have students create their inbox documenting their research and accomplishments.

ExamTime is powerful tool package to improve and enhance study skills. Features include mind maps, flash cards, quizzes, and goal-setting. Sign up using email or Facebook to begin exploring the site. Choose the Explore button at the top of the page to create a study activity. Follow the easy directions to add text, drag and drop items, and build study items. When finished, share with friends within ExamTime. Another interesting feature is the Goal Builder - enter goals, future assignments, project deadlines, and more to build a timeline and check activities when complete. View information easily on computers and mobile devices for easy access anywhere and anytime.

In the Classroom

Share ExamTime with students to build and use study skills. Although an individual can use the site on their own, it is best to use it as a sharing site to share study information. Encourage students to sign up and build a network of friends for creating and sharing resources. You might consider requiring students to use the timeline feature to prioritize and stay organized, especially with long term tasks. Learning support teachers and teachers of gifted-but-disorganized students will want to share the tools and encourage their students to collaborate with their peers. Have students create review activities (they call it revision) and swap them with peers.
Use this tool with colleagues to co-create materials to use with content units or materials to use for flipping the classroom. Use this tool for professional development. Groups of grade level teachers can use the timeline feature and set goals to make sure they are covering the Common Core Standards for the year, throughout the year.

Pinterest and Learnist are for general public use, but eduClipper takes the best of both of those tools and puts them together for educators and their students. The real difference with eduClipper for educators is the ability to create classes. Make your clipboards public or private. Post videos, documents, links, or upload files. Get great ideas by browsing existing clipboards with no registration, or save those searches and create subject specific clipboards by registering for free.

In the Classroom

The real difference about eduClipper for educators is the ability to create classes. This makes it easy to create small groups for investigations and have the students post for each other their findings and suggestions. Brainstorming with the entire class with eduClipper allows everyone to contribute and view the brainstorm even when they are not in class. For more ideas about using eduClipper with and in your classroom, see the classroom suggestions for a similar program, Learnist, reviewed here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session from July 2013, opens in Adobe Connect. Skype: Bring the world into your classroom! Discover TeachersFirst 3.0 to explore and energize your classroom through the use of Skype. Participants will view and explore resources for understanding and learning about Skype as well as explore ideas for immediate and future classroom activities. A question/answer period will be available to help with individual questions. It's OK2Ask,"'?.

As a result of this session and through individual follow-up, teachers will: Gather ideas by exploring 6-10 Skype resources located on TeachersFirst; Investigate and discuss lesson ideas offered in the reviews and by other teachers in this online session; List possible curriculum-related projects or activities that students could do in his/her classes using one of these resources; Explore and practice with the resource(s) of choice; and (follow-up) Plan and implement a student-centered, curriculum-related use of the resource(s) of choice as part of an upcoming teaching unit. Applicable NETS-T standards (2008)*: 1a,b,and d, 2a, b, and c, 3b and d,4c and d, 5a * The text of these standards is copyrighted. Please read the full text at ISTE's NETS-T page.

In the Classroom

Find ideas about using Skype in your classroom. View this webinar alone or with other colleagues wanting to learn more about Skype. Many resources will be shared that use Skype in the classroom (and are ready to go). Take a look at the resource page full of interesting ways to use Skype in the classroom. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

Find many good ideas for including Skype in your classroom. See tips for making the most of your Skype experience and a video of an actual classroom Skype session with author Mike Artnell. Be sure to check out the embedded slide show that includes lots of tips for Skyping with students. The video clip is hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then it may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site to use as reference when setting up Skype calls. Share with other teachers during professional development sessions. After completing Skype sessions, have students create maps using Animaps (reviewed here). Students can add text, images, and location stops! Want to learn more about using Skype in the classroom? View TeachersFirst's OK2Ask: Skype archived webinar (here). This webinar is about 90 minutes long.

Skype as a Learning Call is a PDF loaded with information on using Skype calls in your classroom. Different pages include information such as what to do before, during, and after a call for both you and your students. Also included are student handouts to record information from calls. Be sure to check this out as an excellent resource for getting the most of your Skype learning experiences! Want to learn more about using Skype in the classroom? View TeachersFirst's OK2Ask Skype archived webinar (here). (This recording is about 90 minutes long.)

In the Classroom

Print or save this PDF to use as a resource with any Skype call. Use ideas from this site for assigning student jobs during Skyping. Use the student handouts as a resource for students to complete for post-assessment. Share this site with your Skype partner before your session so that you know each other's goals and objectives for the session.

Flask is a very simple list maker. Type in your first to-do item and press enter to create a new list. NO membership required! The unique url generates, and your list is ready to use. Continue typing items as needed and change the name of your list if desired. Use the share button to view the url, embed link or to email the list.

In the Classroom

Help students organize the specific tasks necessary to finish a project. Use class discussion to create a list of all necessary items or steps. Organize tasks and set due dates to assist students in time management for completing projects. Create weekly lists of due dates and important information to embed on your class website. Use this tool to support students in learning organizational skills. Share this tool at the beginning of the school year for your students to use to organize assignments. Use this tool for your own organizational purposes. Create as many separate lists as needed.